by Jen Andrews
Her amniotic fluid was low, and there was literally no room left for Hannah. I hadn’t dilated to anywhere near where I should have, so I was being wheeled into an operating room for a C-section. The doctors had concerns about the cord crimping, or wrapping around her neck because of the lack of room, but her vitals remained strong. As a precaution, they wanted her out of me, and so did I.
Andy and I were more than ready to meet our baby girl.
The previous afternoon, when I had called him over at the shop to tell him my water had broken, I’d been so excited to make that call. All my contractions had come on like they were supposed to, but when we got to the hospital they had stopped. I had hoped for a quick delivery, but apparently, that wasn’t going to happen.
Jess was excited because she was supposed to go into the delivery room with Andy and me. She and Noah had just found out they were expecting their first child and she wanted to know what she was in for when she had her baby.
However, since a C-section was in my very near future, Andy was the only person allowed to go in with me.
Because I was overdue when I went in to labor, they kept me at the hospital to monitor Hannah and me. I was grateful for that, because I was scared and nervous. Andy was very attentive as usual, but I could see the constant excitement radiating from him.
He was finally going to be a dad.
Since I chose Hannah’s first name, I asked him to choose her middle name. Our little girl’s name would be Hannah Lynn Tate. Andy wanted her named after me too, so my middle name was now hers as well. I loved it.
Since Rob’s death, we had worked hard on putting bad things from our pasts behind us. Andy and I had made a pact with each other, and decided to start the New Year by concentrating only on the good.
We focused on each other, our family and friends, and Emma. Michelle had sent a brief letter to the shop for Andy, telling him how sorry she was for everything she’d done. She also told him where Emma was buried in San Francisco, and had even sent a baby gift for Hannah.
Andy and I visited little Emma’s grave several times, and he was finally able to grieve for his first child. It was difficult the first time we visited, because when we found her headstone, it wasn’t Andy’s last name chiseled in the granite. It was Michelle’s maiden name. Andy felt like Michelle had never even acknowledged the fact that he was Emma’s father.
It was as if Emma had never belonged to Andy, even though we knew she did. That very day, after speaking with Michelle, Andy ordered a new headstone, changing Emma’s last name to Tate. The next time we visited the cemetery, Andy grieved again at seeing his last name next to hers. Emma Tate existed in his heart and mind, and now, everyone would know she was his daughter.
We let the bad memories go, and cherished only the good memories. We still lived in the apartment over the shop, but the renovations on the loft were moving right along. We both worked at the store as a team when he wasn’t working at the shop.
As patiently as possible, we had been waiting for Hannah’s arrival.
I was on IV meds for my C-section, so I was a little bit out of it when they wheeled me into the operating room. Andy looked very striking in his scrubs. His blue eyes sparkled with love and excitement, and he had a constant smile on his beautiful face. Please let our baby girl inherit her daddy’s eyes.
That was my last coherent thought, and the next thing I knew, the doctor was telling me I was going to feel some pressure and pulling from below the sheet blocking my view.
Minutes later, our sweet baby girl was taking her first breath and crying.
It was the most beautiful music I had ever heard in my life.
“You did it, Zoey. She’s finally here,” Andy whispered in my ear as he wiped tears from my face, then from his own. He watched as the nursing staff cleaned Hannah off and performed the necessary newborn testing.
“Do you want to cut the cord, daddy?” Doctor Stewart asked happily over Hannah’s tiny cries.
Andy smiled and stood from the stool he had been sitting on near my head. “Yes!” he said excitedly. He leaned over to me and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right back, Beautiful. You did great. I’m so proud of you.”
“Go meet your daughter, Andy.” I smiled at him, sleepy from the drugs.
Several minutes later, he was back at my side, a huge, happy grin on his face.
“Zoey, wait until you see her. She is perfect and beautiful and looks just like you.”
I was anxious to see her, but she had to be weighed and measured first. Meanwhile, the doctors worked to get me stitched and stapled back together.
Hannah’s continuous crying and adorable little whimpers were music to my ears while Andy stood watching as the nurses tended to our daughter. He relayed her vital statistics back to me as they told him the information. She was seven pounds, six ounces, and twenty-one inches long.
Our girl was here and perfect.
My eyes were heavy, so I closed them for a minute as I listened to my little girl across the room.
“Zoey?” I heard Andy say quietly through the fog in my brain.
My sleepy eyes fluttered open. He was sitting on the same stool he’d vacated earlier and held a tiny little bundle swaddled in pink. I still had tubes and IV’s hooked to me so I was unable to touch her until the surgical staff was finished with me, but she was sleeping peacefully in her daddy’s arms.
It was, and always would be, the most beautiful image I had ever seen in my life.
“Happy birthday, Hannah Lynn Tate,” I whispered to her as tears trickled from my eyes. “She looks so tiny next to you, Andy.”
He smiled down at our daughter, his blue eyes full of happy tears.
“Zoey, she’s perfect. Thank you so much. This is definitely the best day of our lives. Nothing will ever measure up to this very moment. I can’t believe that after all these years, I would look at this date as a day that a new life was brought in to my world.”
He was right. Twelve years ago to the day, three lives were taken from him and on the same date, twelve years later, our daughter was born. I truly believed that everything happened for a reason, and even though the date had caused Andy such misery before, it now brought him joy and happiness.
Nothing would ever compare to the moment I saw Andy hold our daughter for the first time. I fell more in love with him at that moment, than I ever thought possible. Andy had given me the best gift by giving me my life back, and because of that reason, we had a beautiful baby girl. We loved each other, and we had refused to give up on us.
After what seemed like hours, I was finally in recovery and able to hold our daughter. Like so many times before, I scooted to the side of the bed, and Andy crawled up next to me. We laid there together, just the two of us, and watched our sleeping baby.
The immense love I held for the two people next to me was more than I could have ever imagined. I was so overcome with emotion I was literally unable to form the words to tell my husband how I felt. All I could do was take it in and enjoy it. My life had never been so complete, and it had never held more meaning or purpose.
Over the next few days while I was in the hospital, we had several visitors, and Andy only left us when he had to, then he was back as soon as he could be. Jeremy even got a date with one of the nurses on the maternity floor when he came in to visit me. I had seen her around, and she didn’t seem like the type of girl that would settle him down any, but whatever. As long as she was good to him, I had no issues with her.
Once they discharged me from the hospital, I was a bundle of nerves. I worried about taking care of Hannah without the aid of the nursing staff, but I knew Andy would be right there, so that helped.
Luckily, Andy had surprised me on Christmas Day with a new SUV, like I knew he would. He agreed he wouldn’t get me a car, so he hadn’t. I loved my Audi, but he was right, it was not spacious at all. I wanted to keep it, so we did.
My new Chevy Tahoe was more than roomy and the infant seat fit perfectly inside it. I
rode in the back seat with Hannah just to watch her when Andy drove us home from the hospital. She was adorable, and I literally could not take my eyes off her. She was all me, but I could see little bits of Andy in her as well.
Once we were home, we settled in to an easy routine of sorts. I could not have asked for a better baby or husband.
While Hannah did look a lot like me, she had Andy’s disposition. Like him, she was calm most of the time, but every once in a while, she would throw a little fit and scream her head off. We liked to tease each other about it. I would say that part of her came from him and he would say it came from me. We would have to agree, to disagree on that one.
Both of us were finally at peace with our pasts. We were living each day to the fullest and looking forward to our future.
We had a beautiful life together.
I sat in the rocking chair and began singing softly to my baby girl. “Close your eyes . . .” She loved the song when it played on my iPod, and liked to dance around to it. It was a fairly heavy rock song, so I sang it slowly and quietly to lull her back to sleep. The lyrics were beautiful. Hannah was exactly like me when it came to music. She loved it, and it soothed her as much as it did me.
Once I carefully eased her back into her crib in the bedroom next to ours, I shut her door partway and tiptoed back to my bedroom. After shedding my pajamas, I slipped back into bed next to my gorgeous, sleeping husband, who was lying naked in his usual face plant position. I was still in awe of how he could sleep like that.
He looked too damn sexy when he slept, but I didn’t waste any time waking him up so I could take advantage of some alone time with him. I pulled the sheet off him and slipped my naked body on top of his. I kissed his tattooed back between his shoulder blades then reached down and gave his perfect, muscular ass a squeeze.
He groaned sleepily. I lifted myself off him so he could roll over, but as soon as he was on his back, I resumed my position laying on him.
“Happy birthday, Sexy,” I said as I reached back down and stroked him. “Are you ready for your first birthday present?”
I kissed his chest and stopped on the way down, to flick my tongue across his nipple.
“So ready,” he mumbled.
I continued my descent down his body. His hard cock was ready and waiting for me. I slid down and licked him from base to tip, then took him inside my mouth.
Just over two and a half years after I had snuck into his shower and given him the very first blowjob I’d ever given in my life, I still loved to satisfy him that way. Of course, he never tired of it either—what man would?
I took the base of him in my hand, and began stroking him as I teased him with my tongue. He wound his fingers through my hair, and moaned as I sucked harder. I swirled my tongue around the head, then took him back into my mouth.
“Ah, fuck, Zoey,” he groaned.
I sucked, teased, and stroked him until he was panting.
Taking my time with him, since today was his birthday, I let him slip from my mouth, and kissed my way back up his stomach and chest. I positioned myself over him and sank down onto him, then slowly began rocking my hips. Leaning back and placing my hands on his muscular thighs, his cock rubbed me in all the right places.
He sat up and gripped my hips, right on top of my swirling snowflake tattoos, as he guided me up and down on him, hard and slow. He took my nipple into his mouth, teasing and flicking it with his tongue.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he continued torturing my breast. My body was tingling with desire for him, and I felt like I was going to combust at any second.
He flicked my nipple again with the tip of his tongue, sucked it hard into his mouth, and then released it. He flipped me over onto my back and began driving into me. I was so aroused already I was going to come.
“Andy, it’s your birthday . . . Oh that f-feels so good . . .” I moaned as my body began tightening around him.
Andy was already close too, so I scraped my fingernails down his back, causing him to slow his thrusting down. I felt his body stiffen, so I did it again. He continued thrusting into me slowly as he came then collapsed on top of me.
I wrapped my arms around him and held onto him for a few minutes. I wanted to savor the moment with him. “I love you, Andy,” I whispered in his ear.
“I love you too, Beautiful.” He chuckled as he pulled back and began kissing my neck. “Thank you for the birthday blowjob and the quickie before our girl wakes up for the day.”
“The pleasure was all mine, really. It’s the first of many birthday presents today.” I laughed and smacked him on the ass.
He rolled off me and I turned onto my side, nestling into the crook of his neck. We laid there wrapped in each other and enjoyed our quiet morning. I had a busy day planned for his birthday, so eventually I got up, showered, and began preparing for breakfast.
After Andy had showered, he came into the kitchen, wearing only a pair of white cargo shorts, and carrying a very giggly Hannah. He had gotten her up and ready, dressed in a pale yellow sundress. Her blonde ringlets bounced as he carried her into the kitchen.
He came over to where I was standing at the stove, poaching eggs for our breakfast of eggs Benedict, and kissed me on the cheek. “Good morning, again,” he said.
“Mummy!” Hannah called when I turned to kiss them both.
“Good morning, beautiful girl.” I kissed her on her head.
Her bright blue eyes sparkled just like her daddy’s. I turned back to the stove and poured the scrambled eggs for her into a pan to cook as Andy took her over to the table.
Andy sat down on a chair and laid her on her back on top of his thighs, so her head was resting near his knees. He sent her in to another fit of giggles by blowing raspberries on the bottoms of her bare feet.
She was ticklish too, like her daddy. I chuckled quietly when she began squealing “No daddy!” at him in between her tiny giggles.
I watched my beautiful man play with our daughter, and it made my heart flutter in my chest. I could watch him with her every second, of every day. He was very devoted and loved his daughter more than life itself.
He had an ‘H’ tattooed on the inside of his wrist, and an ‘E’ tattooed on the inside of his other wrist for Emma. Andy was a very hands on father, and a wonderful husband, just liked he vowed to be on our wedding day. I truly was a lucky woman.
Turning back to the stove, I scooped Hannah’s scrambled eggs onto a plate so they could cool. While I finished up with our breakfast, the buzzer rang from downstairs.
“Baby, can you get the door?” I asked. Our out of town guests were right on time.
It was part of Andy’s surprise. I heard him say “hello” over the intercom, and a second later, I heard Tamati and Iria call out, “Kia ora.”
“Hey, come on up!” Andy said excitedly over the intercom as he buzzed them in. He jogged with Hannah back to the kitchen, kissed me on the cheek, and thanked me for his surprise visit from our friends.
He opened the front door and headed out with Hannah to meet them.
Iria and Tamati were finally able to come for a visit. After we left New Zealand, Iria had gotten pregnant, so they wanted to wait until after their baby was born and old enough to travel with them.
Their little boy, Jai, was ten months old. They had arrived the previous day and stayed at a hotel for the night, but they would stay with us the rest of the time they would be in Sacramento.
Andy had no idea they were coming.
A few minutes later, the group walked into the kitchen, the guys wheeling suitcases, and Iria, carrying a child on each hip. I hugged our friends, and held my arms out to Jai, so I could finally meet him in person. We had been keeping in close contact with them over Skype, so the kids were very familiar with each other. It was so cute when they visited over the computer screens, even though they spent most of their time trying to touch each other’s hands on the screen.
Hannah knew Iria and Tamati as well. Jai came to me wi
thout hesitation, and Hannah stayed snuggled up with Iria. Jai had the biggest brown eyes and longest eyelashes I had ever seen. He was adorable with his dark, curly hair.
“You made it just in time for breakfast,” I said to them. “I hope you’re hungry.”
Andy pulled plates and cups out of the cupboards and set the table for us, while Jai and I pulled a bowl of fresh fruit, milk and juice from the fridge, and handed them off to Tamati to take to the table.
I settled Jai in Hannah’s highchair then fixed him a plate of scrambled eggs and tiny chunks of fruit. We sat at the table with our friends and caught up with each other over breakfast.
Later that morning, Andy and Tamati took the kids to the courtyard to play, while I helped Iria unpack in the guest room.
“Here are those items you wanted from En Zed, Zoey,” Iria said slyly as she pulled a plastic bag from the large, inside pocket of her suitcase.
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” I clapped with excitement and accepted the bag from her. I sat on the bed and separated the things I’d asked her to bring me for Andy from the new clothes she’d brought for Hannah. I put the things for Andy into a gift bag then hid it in the closet until his surprise party this evening.
Later in the afternoon, Andy finally figured out what I was up to when everyone started showing up to the loft with food and gifts. Although the entire family came for the surprise party and barbecue, we kept it simple, burgers, and hot dogs, with several side dishes. And chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
As I was frosting his cake, Andy snuck up behind me and slipped his arms around me, kissing my neck. He rubbed his palms across the lowest part of my flat stomach. Something he hadn’t stopped doing, even after Hannah was born and I had lost the baby weight.
“Hi, my love, how has your thirty-first birthday been so far?”
“Best birthday ever, Zoey,” he replied. “Thank you for everything.” He was eyeing the cake in front of me.
I dipped my finger in the leftover frosting, and held it up to him. Sucking my finger into his mouth, he swirled his tongue around it, leaving not a trace of frosting.